Financial transaction terminals to read data stored on credit, debit and/or smart cards to complete financial transactions are known. Existing terminals such as automated banking machines (ABM's ) require users to walk to a central retail platform to complete a financial transaction. More recently point-of-sale debit card terminals have been developed which allow a user to enter remotely their personal identification number (PIN) into a secure PIN entry device (SPED) together with a financial transaction request after their credit, debit or smart card has been read to access their account at a financial institution and withdraw funds directly to complete the financial transaction.
These point-of-sale debit card terminals are typically connected to a dial-up or leased telephone line and convey the entered PIN and electronic funds transfer request to the financial institution via the telephone line.
Still more recently radio frequency financial transaction terminals have been developed which can be brought to the location of a user so that a financial transaction can be completed. These radio frequency transaction terminals transmit the entered PIN, financial transaction request and read card data via an RF transceiver including an RF modem and antenna to a central network controller over an RF communications link. The central network controller in turn passes the PIN and financial transaction request to the financial institution either via a telephone line connection or RF wireless communications network. Unfortunately, the fullwave monopole antennas used in these radio frequency financial transaction terminals have been difficult to match to radio wave frequencies making them imprecise and have been subject to temperature variance effects.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a novel secure personal identification number entry device such as a financial transaction terminal and a rotatable antenna for the same.